Steps offered for safer street crossings

Panel hears comments about ways to stop injuries, deaths

Updated 8:25 pm, Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Janice Irwin, left, her daughter Cori Irwin, center, and Cori's fiance Nathan Frank, all of Albany, listen during a public forum to address the issue of pedestrian safety in the Capital Region on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at the Linda, WAMC?s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y. Cori's father was hit and killed by a motorist on Central Avenue in Nov. 2011. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Janice Irwin, left, her daughter Cori Irwin, center, and Cori's...

WAMC's Alan Chartock, left, moderates a public forum to address the issue of pedestrian safety in the Capital Region on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at the Linda, WAMC?s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y. Joining him, from left ,are Times Union reporter Tim O?Brien, architect and planner Jeff Olson, Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider and Robert Limoges of the New York State Department of Transportation. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider, left, and Robert Limoges of the New York State Department of Transportation participate in a public forum to address the issue of pedestrian safety in the Capital Region on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at the Linda, WAMC?s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Architect and planner Jeff Olson, left, and Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider participate in a public forum to address the issue of pedestrian safety in the Capital Region on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at the Linda, WAMC?s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Central Avenue may be a high-speed death trap, but it's not a lost cause.

At a public forum Wednesday hosted by the Times Union and WAMC Northeast Public Radio, panelists discussed problems with the thoroughfare, which stretches from Albany to Schenectady, and potential solutions. The forum followed reporting by the Times Union's Tim O'Brien revealing that, on average, a pedestrian is struck by a car on Central Avenue about once a week.

The program will air on WAMC in the coming weeks. "Crossing a street should not be a matter of life and death," said moderator Alan Chartock, WAMC's president and CEO. "Yet, too often, here on Central Avenue it is."

As he spoke at The Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Studio on Central Avenue and Quail Street, midday traffic whizzed by.

Accidents on Central Avenue have injured more than 300 pedestrians and claimed eight lives in the last four years. The road sees twice as many accidents as expected for a road of its kind.

Among the potential fixes discussed: reducing the speed limit, better educating both drivers and pedestrians, adding medians to the five-lane roadway and taking steps to improve safety and visibility at crosswalks, for instance by adding countdown clocks to crosswalks so pedestrians know exactly how long they have to cross the street.

One thing seemed clear: Central Avenue is a complex problem without a simple solution. As a roadway that handles different types and volumes of traffic, serving pedestrians and motorists as it moves from Albany through Colonie and into Schenectady, it lacks a "one-size-fits-all solution," as Olson pointed out.

Urging drivers to go the speed limit, he said, could make a huge impact.

Heider stressed that pedestrians stepping off the curb and into traffic – outside of designated crossing areas – is the roadway's biggest safety hazard.

"Going forward, I really think we need to look at the data and find what works best in different parts of the corridor," Limoges said.

Marlon Anderson, an Albany community activist who lives three blocks from Central Avenue, was among those in attendance at Wednesday's forum. The biggest issue, he said, is the speed of vehicles on the avenue.

"If you're going so fast you can't slow down and stop when you see someone in front of you, you're going too fast," he said. "People are dying."